Videos and presentations from the French nanotech debate

Here are two useful sources of information for getting a feeling of the ongoing French nanotech debate :
- videos related to the debate, including video summaries of some of the public meetings are available here ;
- slideshare versions of presentations delivered at the meetings are available here ; although very short (too short to my mind), [...]

Gold nanoparticles and magnetic microparticles to detect an indicator of prostate cancer

A new assay developped by US and Austrian researchers uses gold nanoparticles and DNA as amplification agents to detect prostate specific antigen (PSA), a protein associated with prostate cancer. The immunoassay is based on the use of 1) PSA antibody-functionalised gold nanoparticles decorated with DNA strand and 2) magnetic microparticles functionalised with a second PSA [...]

Carbon nanotubes can dramatically accelerate the germination and growth of plants

In the frame of a new study entitled “Carbon Nanotubes Are Able To Penetrate Plant Seed Coat and Dramatically Affect Seed Germination and Plant Growth“ recently published in the online edition of ACS Nano, researchers have demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can penetrate thick seed coat and support water uptake inside tomato seeds. According to some of [...]

A nanotech sensor to distinguish between the breath of lung cancer patients and healthy controls

Israeli researchers have demonstrated that an array of sensors based on functionalized gold nanoparticles in combination with pattern recognition methods can distinguish between the breath of lung cancer patients and healthy controls. Their study was published online in Nature Nanotechnology on August 30th in an article entitled “Diagnosing lung cancer in exhaled breath using gold [...]

Preclinical efficacy of calcium nanoparticles adjuvanted influenza vaccines including H1N1 and H5N1

According to a presentation entitled “BioVant Calcium Phosphate (CaP) Nanoparticles: An Effective Safe Adjuvant for Influenza Vaccines including H1N1 and H5N1” given by BioSante Pharmaceuticals at the Immunotherapeutics & Vaccine Summit (ImVacS) last week : ”BioSante’s vaccine adjuvant, BioVant™, increased the protective effect of vaccines for multiple flu strains, including a potential new vaccine against H1N1 [...]

Friends of the Earth new (short) report : “Manufactured nanomaterials and sunscreens : top reasons for precautions”

Friends of the Earth together with ICTA and Consumers Union released today a 10 page report entitled “Manufactured nanomaterials and sunscreens : top reasons for precautions“. According to them these reasons are :
- Nanomaterials are different from other conventionally-sized compounds
- In the body, nanomaterials have much greater access to vulnerable organs and tissues
- Increasing evidence that some [...]

Integrating the nanoscale in formulations : the InForm project

A new EU-funded 3-year, EUR 1.7 million project entitled INFORM (“Integrating the nanoscale in formulations”) aims to facilitate communication and consequently scientific advances in the field of formulation science regarding the use of nanomaterials. It will focus its efforts on six priority areas:
- the formulation of nano-bio materials
- the handling and processing of nanopowders
- process [...]

Differential toxicity of carbon nanomaterials in fruit flies

According to a new study carried out on Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies and published in Environmental Science & Technology :
- Larval fruit flies showed no physical or reproductive effects from consuming carbon nanoparticles (fullerene C60, carbon black, or single-walled or multiwalled nanotubes) in their food, “despite evidence that the nanomaterials are taken up and become sequestered in tissue“
- [...]

NGOs challenge claims about environmental benefits of nanotechnologies

IPEN (International POPs Elimination Network) and EEB (European Environmental Bureau), two international coalitions of NGOs, recently pointed out in a press release a “mismatch between claims and reality” concerning potential environmental benefits of nanotechnologies. According to them, ” (…) early evidence of the much greater energy demands of producing nanoparticles, the significant quantities of potentially toxic [...]

TACD Resolution on Consumer Products Containing Nanoparticles

The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) is “a forum of US and EU consumer organisations which develops and agrees on joint consumer policy recommendations to the US government and European Union (…)“. At its annual meeting last week in Brussels, it adopted a resolution on consumer products containing nanoparticles. TACD actually ”believes that steps urgently need to [...]